Unleakable and uninflammable gasoline tank



mum

Feb. i 9 M2 DE SALAMANCA UNLEAKABLE AND UNINFLAMMABLE GASOLINE TANK Filed May 9, 1925 Patented Feb. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARQUIS Dr. SALAMANCA, OF MADRID, SPAIN, ASSIGN'OR '10 SOCIETE' ELECTRDv MEGANIQUE DAPPABEILLAGE POUR LESSENCE, 0F BOIS-GOLOMBES, FRANCE.

UNLEAKAIBLE AND UNINFLAMMABLE GASOLINE TANK.

Application filed May 9, 1925, Serial No. 29,171, and in 'llelgium March 21, 1925.

Experience has proved that if the gasoline tank of an airplane is punctured by a bullet, the airplane is put out of action, either on account of losing its gasoline, or by thefire which generally occurs. It therefore becomes indis ensable to preserve the existence of the air plane by protecting the tank from the danger which menaces it. In addition, It is advisable that the rotective device be durableand of light weight.

The object of the present invention is to provide a protective covering complying with these primary conditions. The covering may be used on an gasoline tank, though it is specially inten ed for those used with airplane motors.

The covering in question is composed essentially of two layers of rubber of different quality, cemented together so as to form an indivisible whole. The inner layer facing the wall of the tank is of pure raw unvulcanized rubber, since this layer must be easily dissolved by the gasoline.

The outer layer is of very elastic vulcanized rubber.

It will be understood that immediately after the projectile has passed, the lips of the opening that the bal has made in the vulcanized rubber will close on account of the great elasticity of the latter, and the gas" oline coming into contact with the raw layer will soften 1t and heal thecut.

The invention also provides for the use of ducts between the wall of the tank and the inner surface of the layer of unvulcanized rubber. These ducts serve first of all to preserve the rubber. In addition, they reduce to their lowest terms the effects of the hammer produced in'the liquid b .the

passage of the pro'ectile the gasoline rawn y the ball into t e hole in the tank well being suddenly thrown into the relatively large space formed by the duct. The gasoline sprays the sides of the latter and then flows along these sides while rising towards the bullet hole. Finally, by their presence the ducts reduce the weight of the covering.

In order to form theducts, it is only necessalry to introduce strips between the tank wal canized rubber, the strips consisting, for example,of any kind of rubber or of other materlal, placed at suitable intervals, and extendin parallel to each other all around the ta It is evident that same the flow of and the inner surface of the UDVlll-n gasoline along the sides of the ducts takes place by gravity, the arrangement of theducts must facilitate such flow, but it is not limited either to a strictly vertical position of the ducts, or toa given form, or in the way in which the ducts are formed, the essential purpose of the strips being tosimply serve as spacers.

Experience having demonstrated that a the sudden movement of the liquid.

The accompanying drawing represents by. way of example one of the forms of the invention.

Figs. 1 and 2 refer to a single covering. Fig. 1 represents a partial vertical section of a tank with the covering. Fig. 2 shows a iection taken on the horizontal plane a d in Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section taken through a multiple covering. 7

In these gures, like or simply analo ous elements are designated by the same num ers.

The tank Wallis shown at 1, while 2 designates a coarse cloth with which the double layer of rubber is covered. This clothserves for consolidating and rendering more intimate the contact between the layer 5 of very elastic vulcanized rubber with the inner layer 4 made of raw unvulcanized rubber, as pure as possible. The same cloth may also cover the tank wall proper, as is shown at 2'. The ducts, the multiple purpose of which has been defined above, are seen ,at 7 (Figs. 2 and 3) The are bounded by the side of the cloth 2 (or y the tank wall 1 it the cloth 2 is not used), by the layer 4 of rawrubber and by the strips 6 placed at suitable intervale between the layer 4 and the tank proper (or the cloth 2) These strips extend entirely around the tank and. are securely cemented to the rubber 4. They may also be independent of the rubber. The section represented in Fig. 1 having been taken on a vertical plane the trace of which is a b on Fig. 2 and which passes through an interval between strips, the strip 6 is not shown sectioned in Fig. 1. As has been stated it is advisable to place the strips approximately or exactly vertical, so as to facilitate theflow of the liquid.

The projectile having pierced the tankand having come out through. the wall of the tank represented in the figures, will have entirely punctured the cloth 2 and the layer 4, as Well as the layer 5, but the latter, on account of its elasticity and its constricting action. on the layer 4, will close the sides of the cut. The gasoline will slowly fill the pocket in the covering and will bathe the edges of the cut produced in the layer 4 of unvulcanized rubber, dissolving this rubber and healing the cut with the latter. The hole will be stopped automatically, as it were, simply by the dissolving action of the gasoline and the constricting action of the layer 5.

The alternative form represented in section in Fig. 3 is constituted by the superposition, on the covering which has just been described, of a second covering concentric with the former and composed of the same elements. Thus the strips 6, the unvulcanized rubber 4, the vulcanized rubber 5, the coarse cloth 2 and 2 are found again on the second covering.

Multiple coverings formed by several vsuperposed concentric coverings constitute still other alternatives of the same invention and moreover represent it in the form the b most suitable for the practical requirements, since such multiple coverings have the necessary thickness in addition to the advantages characterizing the single covering described above.

' The strips, the purpose of which consists in forming the ducts, may have any shape and any section, provided that they can per-- form the essential duty assigned them- They may also be made of any material (in particular, they can be formed by ribs on the layer of unvulcanized rubber 4), provided that the material of which they are made be neither harmful to the other substances entering into the composition of the covering, nor perishable. Finally, the relative position of the ducts 7 formed in the sucees sive coverings is unimportant, since the ducts in each covering do not necessarily have to line up with those in the adjacent covering.

For the layer 5, sheets of the vulcanized rubber known as inner tube may be used or any other lighter rubber having a mathcient of elasticity approaching that of the said sheets.

The raw unvulcanized rubber of which the layer 4 is made must be easily attacked and dissolved by gasoline and must also be as pure as possible. Practically, the addition of foreign matter may be admitted, such as rosin, rendering the rubber softer and less sensitive to the cold.

What I claim is:

1. A protective covering for gasoline tanks including layers of rubber of diflerent qua-lities, the first complete layer to be exposed to the Wall of the tank and the gasoline which may leak therefrom being of rubber readily dissolved by gasoline. I

2. A protective covering for gasoline tanks including layers of rubber of different qualities, the first complete layer to be exposed to the Wall of the tank and the gasoline which may leak therefrom being of rubber readily dissolved by gasoline, one of the other layers being of vulcanized rubber and exerting a. constricting action on the said readily dissolved layer.

3. A tank having a protective covering comprising an inner layer of unvulcanized rubber directly facing the wall of the tank and exposed to immediate contact of petrol which may leak from the tank. and an outer elastic layer of vulcanized rubber exerting a constant constriction on said inner layer to cause the latter, when punctured and the edges of the cut therein have been dissolved by leaking petrol, to close said out and therey prevent further leakage of the 'tank.

4. A tank having a protective covering comprising an inner layer of unvulcanized rubber directly facing the wall of the tank and exposed to immediate contact of petrol which may leak from the tank. and an outer elastic layer of vulcanized rubber exerting a constant constriction on said inner layer to .cause the latter, when punctured and the edges of the cut therein have been dissolved by leaking petrol, to close said out and thereby prevent further leakage of the tank, said inner unvulcaniz'ed layer being spaced from the wall by strips. said strips forming ducts therebetween facilitating contact of leaking petrol with the said inner layer.

5. A protective covering as in claim 1, With a netting interposed between the first rubber layer and the tank.

In Witness whereof I aflix my signature.

MARQUIS a SALAMANGA. 

